Eco-design in the Era of Symbolic Consumption

Abstract

Current eco-design pays too much attention to the environmental effects of the products themselves,but seldom cares for the possible impacts on the behaviors of the users. Such an exclusive attention may lead to the consequence of‘Jevons paradox',in some cases,the undesirable effects may even offset the environmental merit of the products. Furthermore,many products disposed of are still functionally usable,but no longer satisfy psychological needs or desires. As long as this happens,it does not matter how"clean"a product is. It is at least as important to try to get people not to throw away their things so quickly. This problem is aggravated in the era of symbolic consumption. This means designers should aslo pay attention to the behaviors of users and realize the organic unification of product's environmental performance and user's environmental behaviors.